Fixtures

Blues beat Bournemouth

09/04/2017

Chelsea continued their fantastic form with a 3-1 win over Bournemouth.

Eden Hazard put the Blues two goals ahead three minutes after an own goal had opened the scoring.

Bournemouth pegged them back with a deflected shot at the end of half-time, but Chelsea start the second half strongly and were 3-1 up thanks to a brilliant Marcos Alonso free-kick in the 68th minute.

Victor Moses was back from injury, so Antonio Conte was able to start his preferred line-up.

Chelsea lined up in a 3-4-3 with Thibaut Courtois in goal, behind Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and captain Gary Cahill. Moses joined Alonso on the wings, with N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic in the centre. Pedro played instead of Willian in a front three with Diego Costa and Hazard

The scoreline could have been very different had Courtois not reacted brilliantly early on to punch away a misjudged David Luiz clearance.

A few minutes later, Chelsea were ahead. David Luiz found Moses, who was a constant threat on his return, and the wing-back pulled it back to Diego Costa. The striker mis-hit his shot, but it deflected of a goalkeeper and went in.

Chelsea's next goal, which came just three minutes after, was more typical. Kante found Hazard onside with a brilliant pass, and the Belgium charged into the box, beat the goalkeeper and tucked it into the net.

Courtois was in action again shortly after, palming away a cross after the Chelsea defenders had made some great blocks.

There wasn't much that the Chelsea shotstopper could do about the goal, however. Bournemouth striker Josh King found space on the edge of the area and fired it in, the ball got a big deflection and went over Courtois's head.

The second-half started with Chelsea 2-1 up, and both teams looking for an important goal. In the 66th minute Diego Costa was fouled 25 yards out, and Alonso stepped up to take it. The Spaniard took a long look and then curled a wonderful strike over the wall and into the top corner.

Moses, who never seemed to run out of energy, had a chance to score a fourth, but his shot was well saved.

There's another big match for Chelsea next weekend, with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.